Russia’s vital statistics
Over the past decade, Gennadiy Shukin has increasingly struggled to recognise the landscape he has known his whole life. River crossings that used to stay solidly frozen until spring now crack underfoot. Craters have begun erupting from thawing permafrost, and in the shallow waters where thick ice should be newborn reindeer calves are drowning. “Last December, the cold barely came,” said Shukin, a reindeer herder in the Russian Arctic.
